FAYETTEVILLE - Mike Anderson said late last month he expected to bring his Missouri staff with him to Arkansas. In his words, if it's broken there's nothing to fix.

Well, Anderson followed through with the plan Wednesday when he announced his staff.

He also secured a recommitment from Rotnei Clarke, the team's leading returning scorer.

Arkansas announced Wednesday that Melvin Waktins, T.J. Cleveland and Matt Zimmerman will serve as assistants on Anderson's staff next season, while Jeff Daniels (director of basketball operations) and David Deets (strength and conditioning) will join them.

Cleveland and Zimmerman are both Arkansas graduates. Cleveland, who is Anderson's nephew, played for the Razorbacks from 1999-2002 under coach Nolan Richardson. Zimmerman, an Arkansas native, was a student manager for the basketball program from 1987-90.

Prior to his four seasons at UAB, Zimmerman spent seven years at Dardanelle and Plainview-Rover. He compiled a 74-46 record in four seasons with the Sand Lizards, led DHS to the Class 3A state quarterfinals in 1999-2000 and was named 3A-4 Conference coach of the year. The Lizards went 24-11 that season, went 17-10 the next season and went to the state tourney again.

Dardanelle won the 3A-4 Conference championship in Zimmerman's final season and went 18-12 overall. He coached at Plainview-Rover from 1995-98 and was also athletic director. The Panthers won three 4B South Conference titles, and the Lady Panthers made the Class B state tournament in 1997.

A little later, Anderson told several local radio shows he met with Clarke one-on-one Tuesday and the guard said he planned to return to Arkansas for his senior season.

"Rotnei Clarke will be back as a Razorback," Anderson told Dave Barr, who hosts the Bottom Line on the Hog Sports Radio Network. "He's more committed to being a part of what we think is going to be a special year. ...

"With no coach that was in place a lot of things go through your mind. But with that being said, I had a chance to sit down with Rotnei, his family and then here even as recently as yesterday had a chance to sit down with him. His heart and his soul is being with the Razorbacks. That excites us because he wants to be here and wants to continue the things he's done for the last three years."

Arkansas said Anderson was unavailable for further comment regarding Clarke on Wednesday.

Convincing the senior to return could be big for the Razorbacks, considering he averaged a team-high 15.2 points last season and is Arkansas' best shooter. It's not yet clear if any players have decided to transfer, but Anderson also said he is confident all five members of the signing class remain committed and plan to be on campus next year.

Watkins is the veteran of the group, coaching for more 33 years. He was a head coach at two previous stops (Texas A&M and UNC-Charlotte) before joining Anderson's staff at Missouri. He was named the top assistant coach in the country by Rivals.com in 2009 and 2010.

"I'm very excited to have these guys join me at Arkansas," Anderson said in a statement released by the athletic department. "They are very familiar with the system that I want to run. We enjoy working with one another and to me that makes the ultimate team. Having those guys want to be a part of what we are doing at Arkansas provides continuity which will ultimately help build a better team."